Margaret Newman's Theory of Health As Expanding Consciousness - Assignment Example

Theory of Health as Expanding Consciousness al affiliation Theory of Health as Expanding Consciousness The theory s that all human beings in all situations are parts of the extensive process of expanding consciousness irrespective of how hopeless or disorderly they may seem. In the theory, consciousness refers to the process of becoming oneself that includes obtaining greater meaning in life or even reaching different dimensions of connectedness with the world or other people. The theory has advanced to cover the health of all people despite the presence or absence of illness.

The theory was spurred by care for those for whom well-being as the absence of disability or illness is not probable (Nursing-theory.org 2013).In this theory, Newman redefines nursing as the means of understanding the person in connection to the environment and also as the manner of understanding of consciousness. It is the nurse who should help people to understand and use the potential within to acquire the greater level of consciousness. Newman also describes the relationship between time, space and movement.

According to her, space and time are the secular patterns of a person. Both of them have reciprocal relationships. Human beings are continually evolving through space and time, and it displays a unique model of reality (Brown 2011).Newman states that human beings are open to the entire systems of energy in the universe and also regularly interacting with the energy. It is through such environmental interactions that human beings can develop their unique individual patterns. Newman emphasizes the importance of understanding individual patterns.

The recognition of such individual patterns amounts to expanding consciousness. The symptoms of diseases depend on individual patterns. Therefore, the diagnostics of the illnesses exists before the signs appear. Thus, the removal of such signs does not alter the individual formation (Newman).In my opinion, Newman’s theory is about a new approach of seeing health and diseases as manifestations of the evolving patterns of the interaction of individuals with the environment. Therefore, diseases should not be seen as separate entities of people’s health.

Diseases should be seen as part of the self-organizing process of expanding consciousness instead of viewing them as negative aspects of health. The treatment of diseases should, therefore, shift from the usual treatment of symptoms to a new approach of searching for patterns. The usual role of nursing is addressing the problems of diseases, but the new role should be helping people get in touch with their individual patterns of expanding consciousness.The theory can be useful in the nursing profession.

Consider a situation where a community nurse finds a helpless elderly woman in her home. The nurse finds out that the elderly woman is living alone, and she is almost running out of food and other supplies in the house. The woman is unable to go out and buy food because of her age, but she does not also want to ask for help from her neighbors. In such a situation, the nurse can help the elderly woman to build new relationships with the neighbors through dialog. If the elderly woman is in need of medical treatment, the nurse can make a regular transport arrangement to a hospital at a reduced price.

In doing so, the nurse helps the woman in expanding her consciousness.Newman’s HEC theory is useful in the nursing profession. It provides alternative approaches to health aspects. For example, the nursing role should be helping people to get in touch with their consciousness instead of the usual way of addressing disease problems. The theory also provides a different approach of handling diseases; it should involve the search of individual patterns.ReferencesBrown, J.W., (2011). Health as expanding consciousness: a nursing perspective for groundedtheory research. NCBI. Retrieved 11 June 2014 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21742707Newman, A.M., (n.d). Overview. Hec.org.

Retrieved 11 June 2014 fromhttp://healthasexpandingconsciousness.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=6Nursing Theory. (2013). Health as Expanding Consciousness. Nursing-theory.org. Retrieved 11June 2014 from http://nursing-theory.org/theories-and-models/newman-health-as-expanding-consciousness.php